RUGBY TOWN: Up to fifth

Rugby Town moved back up into the Evostik Southern League – Central Division play-off zone for the first time since the opening week of the campaign, thanks to their comfortable midweek home victory against Thatcham.

Ellis Myles against Thatcham

The 4-2 win ended a run of poor results at Butlin Road for Dave Stringer’s side, which had been potentially spared another home defeat at the weekend when floodlight failure caused the abandonment of their game against Royston – in which the visitors were leading at the time.

Valley now sit in fifth in the table and they assume the role of hosts again this weekend, with 17th placed Fleet the visitors.

Town will be aiming for a fourth consecutive league victory on Saturday, and also looking to break a sequence of draws between the two sides – which has seen all four Southern League fixtures between them end all-square.

The first two of those came back in the 1999-00 season, whilst last time out the points were again split in both games – including a 3-3 draw at Butlin Road this March, where Rugby ended the game with just nine men.

Stringer will have Steve Palmer back in the squad, after the midfielder sat out the Thatcham victory through suspension. Full-back Alex Austin was also rested from the game due to an ankle injury, and he will be receiving treatment this week in the hope that he is also available for selection on Saturday.

On a positive note, Michael Williams made his return in a Valley shirt as a second half substitute on Tuesday, after more than two months out of action.

The abandoned Royston home game has been rearranged for Tuesday 11th December. The admission policy for this fixture will be announced shortly.

David Kolodynski’s hat-trick on Tuesday evening was the fifth of his Town career, taking his total to twelve goals in just eleven appearances since he returned to the club at the start of October.

Kolodynski’s treble also saw him pull clear into fifth place in the club’s all-time goalscoring listing. The home-town striker has 68 goals for the club in all competitions, leaving just Ashley Warner (77), Robbie Beard (84), the late Ian Crawley (85) and Danny Conway (124) ahead of him.

Kolodynski’s total for Valley in the Southern League is now at 55, which sees him in fourth place behind Warner (63), Conway (66) and Beard (79).